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Saturday, February 23, 2013

Anna from Anna Scott Jots (Celebrating British Bloggers)

Hello! And welcome to another week of Celebrating British Bloggers! I really hope you guys are loving this feature as much as I am. I'm really quite thrilled to be interviewing so many amazing book bloggers! And today is another one of my favourites.

I love, love, love Anna's blog. I really do. And I think she has amazing taste in books. You really should click the link below and follow her blog!

Well, I'm an (early) thirty something mum/wife etc etc. I live in
deepest west London and work part time as a freelance web content
writer. And also spend not nearly enough time trying to write my first
YA novel. I started the blog a while back and I'm afraid I'm not the
most committed of bloggers, my posts being a bit thin on the ground
recently. I mostly read and review contemporary YA, but I also like to
do posts about short stories and any writing issues that I'm pondering.
And anything that takes my fancy, really!

How did you begin being a book blogger?

A couple of years ago, I was going through a very reflective period as
most folks tend to do at some point in their lives and began being all
'but what do I REALLY want to do?' which resulted in me rediscovering my
teenage love of writing down stuff. When I picked up on the fact that
all my finished and unfinished short stories seemed to be about
teenagers and angst and more angst, I thought now might be the time to
start reading some YA fiction again. In my clueless state, being
completely unaware of the whole YA blogging world, I just set up a basic
blog just to get myself in the habit of keeping to my new habit. And
from there, this opened a whole world of discovery! My blogging habit
still remains intermittent at best (as much to do with laziness and well
as lack of time) but I hope to get back into the swing of things
soon(ish).

When you're not reading or blogging, what do you do with yourself?

Chasing after children with toothbrushes/hairbrushes/school
uniforms. I would say I devote approximately 50% of my time picking
stuff up off the floor. Apart from this? I try to cram in work when
small people aren't under my feet. And trying to complete my first book.
Oh, and, at present, obsessing over and watching Downton Abbey and
Skins. A strange combination, but it works for me.

What was the first book you reviewed on your blog?

So it turns out it was The Bride's Farewell by Meg Rosoff. And very good
it was too! Actually, it was so much more than very good.

What has been the best experience of being a book blogger so far?

Easy - meeting some fantastic bookish people that I adore, especially Jo
from Wear The Old Coat who puts up with my terrible jokes on a daily
basis.

You can do it, what is your absolute favourite book?

Ok, On the Jellicoe road by Melina Marchetta. That was quite an easy
decision, if I'm honest. That book changed my life a little bit.

If you could be best friends with any fictional character, who would you choose?

It's a tough choice between someone I would want on my side in a tricky
situation, or someone I want to give a great big bear hug to. Mmmm, I
think I'll have to go with Violet from the Chaos Walking trilogy,
because she's a bit of both.

I have been lucky enough to meet my favourite author already, Melina
Marchetta. I attended at YA workshop run by her just over a year ago. A
writing goddess! Other than that, I dream of meeting Patrick Ness and
Meg Rosoff, but then my brain would probably turn to mush as soon as I
would open my mouth, so maybe it's a good thing that I haven't
humiliated myself in front of them yet... YET.

What would you like to see more of or less of in YA?

Firstly, more of - I'm a big reader of contemporary YA, especially
a lot of Australian contemporary stuff. I love the unapologetic,
intelligent writing and am a greedy sort so would like MORE of this. ALL
THE TIME.

I don't think there's anything I necessarily like to see less of.
There's are certain styles/genres that just don't appeal to me as a
reader, but that's not to say I wouldn't want to see more of these types
of books in the teen section of my local bookshop. I think the
brilliant thing about YA as a genre is that it is so diverse and ground
breaking. I think I would like to see publishers take a few more risks
and maybe a little less bandwagon-jumping, but, hey, I guess they're
just trying to be successful, so I can't really judge them for chasing
the latest trend.

And finally, who is your ultimate book crush?

EASY - Ryan from Raw Blueby Kirsty Eagar. Down to earth Australian blokey bloke. It is
no coincidence that I am married to a down to earth Australian blokey
bloke.

Thank you so much, Anna! I am insanely jealous that you've met Melina Marchetta! She is a such a genius. Also, I love Ryan as well, and would love to meet Patrick Ness (I've met Meg!)

Would you like to meet Meg Rosoff or Patrick Ness? Do you think you could be besties with Viola? Are you crushing on Ryan from Raw Blue too? Would you love to see more Australian contemporary YA? Let Anna and I know in comments!

Lovely interview! I've just checked out your blog and followed; I'll definitely be stopping by more now.I really need to read something by Melina Marchetta because I've heard some great things about her writing.

Me Me Me

I've been running my book blog, Fluttering Butterflies, for the past (nearly) 9 years and have recently taken up booktubing on my own channel, cloveryness, as well as collaboratively with the Bookish Brits.